Roll up, roll up for the Epsom 10. Misty morning, rolling hills and cars whizzing past as you slog along the roads, all the fun of interrupting a perfectly good Sunday morning in bed. Roll up.

26.2 results are below.

And so it was that 19 (have I missed anyone?) club members were on the start line on Sunday morning, finding to their great pleasure that unlike everywhere else, up on the downs the sun was shining. I’ve heard all sorts of boasts and claims on the start line of a race, but never seen someone decide to make a race deliberately harder for themselves. As we set off from Tattenham Corner we realised that in fact there were 20 club members in action – well done Moustafa Fawzy for starting from the clubhouse, heading past the whole field the other way to the start with his head down. From now on let this be known as the run of shame.

The first four miles have the main hills in, with the first one being downwards which makes for a quick start. Jason Blair wanted pacing through the first mile or two but as Aimee “I’m going slowly today” Billington pulled alongside me for a chat he soon asked politely if he might get past and was soon lost to me. His final time was quicker than either the (missed) Dominic Collier and Joe Brewer ran last year. Steve Watkins was in no mood to chat, nor to maintain my pace, speeding past with one instruction: “focus. Several vet women also ran past in the first mile (probably worried by quick-start Billington!), with Joe Chang slipping past on their outside while I was wondering if the Flying Flynn was in the mood for conversation. I’m still not sure whether I’m more motivated by trying to beat the females who ran past me or catching club mates up ahead.

The race settles down to be a little flatter after four miles, though it’s on some fairly busy roads at points, with runners often not very well tucked in to the left which makes for some interesting overtaking moves. The club’s front few were well coached by Simon Norman, who thoroughly enjoyed talking me through catching Steve, wondered if I might catch Joe and then on spotting Binkie and Nellie up ahead used perfect comic timing to deliver the line “…I didn’t realise you were that far back”. They had run an inpromptu “Tadworth 5” in order to cut through and give some much appreciated support.

Kevin Parker was busy taking 8 minutes off his previous Epsom 10 time, while Aimee was convincingly first lady home for the club – and despite not being at her best (aren’t you supposed to beat Natasha Swan, for your sister’s sake?!) was still 13th lady and 4th vet (sorry). Zoe Ashcroft showed that a relative lack of running hasn’t done her too much harm and looked strong at the end, taking 2 minutes off her time from last year. Ben Downe, Simon Gerrard and Matthew Pritchard were close enough to have spotted each other on the straighter sections but finished spaced out by a couple of minutes each – well done Simon and Matthew for big improvements on last year’s times. Libby Marchant continues to do well in the Grand Prix, and while she has been nudged from top position in the past the post competition, is now in the top three in the age-graded, though Ann has runs in hand. Greg Whiteman and Grant Davison were separated by under 20 seconds, while Moustafa finished looking a little tired. Mike Gray and Sue Garnish cruised in looking content with their runs – given that Mike was 22 minutes quicker than 2010, I’m not surprised. Zoe Wingfield found that altitude training – admittedly not involving running – does less for you than you’d hope, but still looked comfortable at the end. Special plaudits to Javier Fuentes, who is such a great supporter of others’ running and here finished what I’m told is his longest run ever – well done!

In the grand prix, starlet Jack and paceman Luke’s absence allowed Joe to stay ahead of Jason at the top, but both have enough races left to give the Js pause, while Steve has jumped from 5th to 3rd – all true of both competitions. In the ladies’, a perfect score for Aimee has pushed her back to the top, hotly pursued by both Libby and Zoe. Full tables are available in the downloads section.

GRAND PRIX 8: Horton 10k RonHill Surrey Classic 3 Stage Race : Stage 3 of 3
Location: Horton Country Park Start 9:00am

Position	Time	Who
23	63:19	Jason Blair
32	64:57	Joseph Chang
40	65:57	John Matthews
50	66:50	Steve Watkins
60	67:50	Kevin Parker
82	70:54	Aimee Billington
104	73:32	Zoe Ashcroft
119	75:33	Ben Downe
141	77:47	Simon Gerrard
153	79:16	Matthew Pritchard
170	80:53	Libby Marchant
178	81:35	Greg Whiteman
181	81:51	Grant Davison
201	85:19	Moustafa Fawzy
209	87:40	Mike Gray
213	87:59	Sue Garnish
231	91:02	Zoe Wingfield
232	91:30	Javier Fuentes

Grand prix points

Men	Past the Post		Age Graded
	Time	Points	%	Points
Jason Blair	1:03:19	20	70.26%	20
Joe Chang	1:04:57	19	68.64%	18
John Matthews	1:05:57	18	69.45%	19
Steve Watkins	1:06:50	17	68.53%	17
Kevin Parker	1:07:50	16	66.24%	16
Ben Downe	1:15:33	15	59.01%	13
Simon Gerrard	1:17:47	14	59.80%	14
Matthew Pritchard	1:19:16	13	57.00%	11
Greg Whiteman	1:21:35	12	58.37%	12
Grant Davison	1:21:51	11	55.55%	10
Moustafa Fawzy	1:25:19	10	52.26%	9
Mike Gray	1:27:40	9	60.00%	15
Javier Fuentes	1:31:30	8	50.44%	8

 

Women	Past the Post		Age Graded
	Time	Points	%	Points
Aimee Billington	1:10:54	20	70.80%	20
Zoe Ashcroft	1:13:32	19	68.54%	19
Libby Marchant	1:20:53	18	61.43%	18
Sue Garnish	1:27:59	17	59.35%	17
Zoe Wingfield	1:31:02	16	54.98%	16